After 2
days of intensive training on social media and social reporting, the
GCARD2 Social Media Team received their Certificate from H.E. Minister
of Livestock, Agriculture and Fisheries, Tabaré Aguerre
The opening ceremony of the second Global Conference on Agricultural Research for Development (GCARD2) took place on 28th October 2012 at the Conrad Hotel in Punta del Este, Uruguay.
Over 700
participants from around the world were present and came to discuss and
share experiences on the 3 themes of the conference: Foresight,
Partnerships and capacity building. The main issue to be addressed here
is how to innovate and have high quality research so that the results help improve the livelihoods of smallholder farmers?
In his speech,
Mr. Monty Jones introduced the 3 themes of the conference and
highlighted that Uruguay is a good location for the GCARD2, since they
have many best practice case studies to learn from when it comes to
agriculture and involving smallholder farmers for agricultural
development.
The CGIAR
Consortium Board Chair, Mr. C.P.del Castillo shared with the audience
the importance of research for agricultural development and gave
examples from the work being done by CGIAR. According to him, climate
change will have a significant impact on Agriculture and the CGIAR has
undergone reform to adapt to the situation. The research being carried
out by the CGIAR centres is being done collectively on a wide range of
topics.
The speech of
the chair of IFAD, Mr. Kanayo Nwanze, was very focused on the conference
themes. He highlighted that 2 years ago, Agricultural development was
not acknowledged at national, regional and international level, but
today it is not the case anymore. Agriculture is the concern of every
one of us. The President of IFAD said that today we have the interest,
commitment and funding, but how do we seize the opportunity?
Climate change
is is here and going to affect us, and the President of IFAD said that
future research to be carried out should be focused on climate smart
agriculture. To do so, there should be partnerships among different
stakeholders. Mr. Nwanze believes that f we want a change, we need to
work with the farmers in the field and it is there that the impact of
research will be seen. And he ended his speech with a very interesting
statement: "The day when no child dies from hunger and malnutrition, we will know our work has been done"!
The Minister of
Livestock, Agriculture and Fisheries, Mr. Tabaré Aguerre gave an
overview of Agriculture in Uruguay. He said that Uruguay is a net
exporting country, while many countries in the world are net importers.
But we have the same environment, challenges and opportunities. How has
Uruguay been able to achieve success in its Agricultural sector?
In fact, the Uruguayan Agricultural strategy is based on competitiveness, social integration and natural resources policies, and we have a lot to learn from the country.
For the youth
of the Social Media Team, it was a great privilege to receive their
certificate for social media and social reporting from the hands of the
Minister. As some said, it was a magical moment that will be engraved in
our memories!
And talking
about rewards and recognition to attract youth to agriculture, this is a
concrete example of how young agriculture professionals from all over
the world got the opportunity to cover the conference events and
interact with the agriculture professionals present in Uruguay!
Blogpost by Nawsheen Hosenally, one of the GCARD2 Social Reporters.
Photo: Bernardo Thompson
Original Blog Post on this Link: The GCARD2 social media team receives certificate from Uruguay's Minister of Agriculture